TAKE THE BUS, AND LEAVE THE DECAPITATION TO USPORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Manitoba ­ A traveler aboard a Greyhound bus repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated his seat mate, pausing during the savage attack in central Canada to display the head to passengers who had fled in horror, witnesses and officials said Thursday.

A 40-year-old man was arrested after the grisly slaying late Wednesday night aboard a bus en route from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Steve Colwell told reporters.

Police apprehended the suspect early Thursday as he tried to escape from the bus about three hours after the attack, Colwell said.

Authorities said a motive had not been determined. They declined to identify the suspect or the victim, and provided few details about the attack.

But passenger Garnet Caton said the victim, who appeared to be about 19, was sleeping with headphones on when his seat mate suddenly began stabbing him as the bus traveled a desolate stretch of the TransCanada Highway, a dozen miles from Portage La Prairie.

Caton, sitting just one seat in front of the two men, said he heard no exchanges between them prior to the violence.

"We heard this bloodcurdling scream and turned around, and the guy was standing up, stabbing this guy repeatedly, like 40 or 50 times," Caton said from a hotel in Brandon, Manitoba, where he and other horrified passengers were taken.

(Thanks, benjybite, for the title!)

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